Name:​_________________________​ Per​_____

M​ODEL​ C​ONGRESS​ B​ILL​ P​ROJECT 

Issue Identification and Analysis

O​VERVIEW
At the root of governing and political actions are important issues that are complex. Many are problems that are challenging to resolve
or topics that elicit strong opinions from stakeholders. As part of our Model Congress simulation, you will choose an issue you care
about, conduct research about that issue, and then write a bill that you will introduce in our class legislature.

For this Issue Analysis task you will:

● Identify and describe an important issue related to your bill project.
● Select and evaluate reliable resources to learn more about the issue from multiple perspectives (a minimum of THREE
sources on the ​content​ of your bill is required; more are recommended).
● Provide a detailed description of the problem including the causes, effects, and significance of this issue based on your
research.

I. ​P​RELIMINARY​ I​DENTIFICATION​ ​AND​ D​ESCRIPTION​ ​OF​ ​AN​ I​SSUE

​Describe in as much detail as you can, the problem/issue, its causes and effects, and importance. n
Topic: Mandatory Recycling

Problem:
Most people don’t recycle and there are a ton of plastic bottles and stuff all around the streets and in the
ocean.

Causes:
People not recycling.

Effects:
Sea creatures eat the plastic and die, and plastic is all over the world laying around.

Importance:
So our environment will be more clean and less sea creatures won't die and more jobs will be created.

II. R​ESOURCE​ A​NALYSIS​ ​AND​ I​NFORMATION​ G​ATHERING

After searching for sources, ​s​elect three that provide information and analysis about the problem you have identified as your focus
issue and complete a summary sheet for each resource. Based on your evaluation, these sources should be reliable and
purposefully selected to give you multiple perspectives on your topic. List the three sources below:

● Source #1
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/06/22/what-would-happen-if-everyone-recycled/374773001/

● Source #2
https://www.thoughtco.com/why-recycling-not-mandatory-all-cities-1204150

● Source #3
https://www.thoughtco.com/benefits-of-recycling-outweigh-the-costs-1204141#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20well%2Drun%20c
urbside%20recycling,can%20be%20cost%2Deffective.%E2%80%9D
 S​OURCE​ #1: R​ESOURCE​ A​NALYSIS​ ​AND​ I​NFORMATION​ G​ATHERING​ S​HEET

A) Source Information

Source Name: Source Location:

What would happen if everyone recycled https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/
06/22/what-would-happen-if-everyone-recycled/3747730
01/
Author(s): Publication Date:
Ashley May June 22, 2017

B) Source Format: Choose from the list below

Digital Sources Print Sources Other Sources

___ General website (try to find author) ___ Chapter/Page in a book ___ Survey results
___ Chapter/section of a book ___ Article – magazine/newspaper ___ Public opinion poll
_X_ Article – from a database or journal ___ Film or Movie ___ Personal Interview
___ Article – from a magazine/news media ___ Sound Recording __ _________________
___ Article - from a Non Profit Association ___ Visual Artwork, Photo or Cartoon
___ Artwork, Cartoon, Map or Chart
__ _________________
___ Multimedia – Video Clip, Radio/TV,
Sound Recording

C) Source Evaluation​: Consider issues of bias, legitimacy or authority of this source. How did you decide to use this source for
your research? Summarize your evaluation in the space below.
I chose this source because it just talks about what the outcome would be if everyone would recycle and it also
gives research and numbers to back their information. They also talk about how even if everyone one did recycle
there would still be plastic laying around but it would be a lot less.

D) Source Summary​: ​ ​Use the space below to summarize the key facts and conclusions from your source. D​o not copy information
word-for-word​ unless it is a direct quote. (Can be bulleted)
● If everyone one recycled then there would be barely any plastic in the ocean or laying around the streets the world would just
be a lot cleaner
● We would move to more of a circular economy because we are reusing all the plastic and aluminum so when they are used
we turn them into something else instead of just throwing them away
● If we recycled we could take that plastic and turn it into more bottles or clothing and even park benches so we can take
something old and used and turn it into something brand new
S​OURCE​ #2: R​ESOURCE​ A​NALYSIS​ ​AND​ I​NFORMATION​ G​ATHERING​ S​HEET

A) Source Information

Source Name: Source Location:

Why Is Recycling Not Mandatory in All U.S. https://www.thoughtco.com/why-recycling-not-mandato
Cities? ry-all-cities-1204150
Author(s): Publication Date:
Earth Talk July 17, 2018

B) Source Format: Choose from the list below

Digital Sources Print Sources Other Sources

___ General website (try to find author) ___ Chapter/Page in a book ___ Survey results
___ Chapter/section of a book ___ Article – magazine/newspaper ___ Public opinion poll
_X_ Article – from a database or journal ___ Film or Movie ___ Personal Interview
___ Article – from a magazine/news media ___ Sound Recording __ _________________
___ Article - from a Non Profit Association ___ Visual Artwork, Photo or Cartoon
___ Artwork, Cartoon, Map or Chart
__ _________________
___ Multimedia – Video Clip, Radio/TV,
Sound Recording

C) Source Evaluation​: Consider issues of bias, legitimacy or authority of this source. How did you decide to use this source for
your research? Summarize your evaluation in the space below.
I chose this source because it's not biased and just saying good things about recycling it's also talking about the negative
sides of recycling for example that it's really expensive to recycle compared to throwing it in a landfill.

D) Source Summary​: ​ ​Use the space below to summarize the key facts and conclusions from your source. D​o not copy information
word-for-word​ unless it is a direct quote. (Can be bulleted)
This article talks about how recycling is mandatory in some cities. It also talks about how it's much cheaper and
easier to put all the plastic in the landfills instead of recycling but mandatory recycling is way better but it's more
expensive than landfills but in the long run recycling is a lot better.
S​OURCE​ #3: R​ESOURCE​ A​NALYSIS​ ​AND​ I​NFORMATION​ G​ATHERING​ S​HEET

A) Source Information

Source Name: Source Location:

The Pros and Cons of Recycling https://www.thoughtco.com/benefits-of-recycling-outwei
gh-the-costs-1204141#:~:text=%E2%80%9CA%20well
%2Drun%20curbside%20recycling,can%20be%20cost
%2Deffective.%E2%80%9D
Author(s): Publication Date:
Earth Talk August 15, 2019

B) Source Format: Choose from the list below

Digital Sources Print Sources Other Sources

___ General website (try to find author) ___ Chapter/Page in a book ___ Survey results
___ Chapter/section of a book ___ Article – magazine/newspaper ___ Public opinion poll
_X_ Article – from a database or journal ___ Film or Movie ___ Personal Interview
___ Article – from a magazine/news media ___ Sound Recording __ _________________
___ Article - from a Non Profit Association ___ Visual Artwork, Photo or Cartoon
___ Artwork, Cartoon, Map or Chart
__ _________________
___ Multimedia – Video Clip, Radio/TV,
Sound Recording

C) Source Evaluation​: Consider issues of bias, legitimacy or authority of this source. How did you decide to use this source for
your research? Summarize your evaluation in the space below.
I chose this source because it's talking about both sides of recycling so it is giving an unbiased view because it's
both sides. I decided to use this source because it talks about pros and cons of recycling so I can learn about why recycling
is good but also why it can be bad.

D) Source Summary​: ​ ​Use the space below to summarize the key facts and conclusions from your source. D​o not copy information
word-for-word​ unless it is a direct quote. (Can be bulleted)
● The cost of both recycling and also the alternative option throwing it in a landfill
● The benefits of recycling increasing in cities
● Recycling costs way more than throwing plastic in the trash
● You have to sort the recycling so there is a whole other bin just for recycling